Dispute in Munich at MJ monument

The day of quiet mourning begins for Sandra Mazur with a shock. Together with a friend, she is on the way to Promenade Square. The two want the monument to the King of Pop to the Hotel Bayerischer Hof, mourning light candles and place fresh flowers in the vases. You want to remember their idol and draw strength from the Michael Jackson fan meeting in the afternoon.

But on this gray spring morning finds Sandra Mazur no peace in the pilgrimage. Overnight, someone has pigeon food strewn about the monument: countless grains stick on the laminated posters. The handwritten farewell letters are smeared with pigeon droppings, overturned the gilded figures of angels. Sabotage at the memorial, Sandra Mazur is appalled. Before the fan meeting begins, have a few hours to clean the monument.

To the Michael Jackson-Memorial by the promenade is a fierce controversy erupted: When the pop star died suddenly in June 2009, his fans erected overnight in Munich a memorial for the singer. At some place, they had to express their grief. So they just stuck to a statue of the composer Orlando di Lasso with posters, pictures and letters.

Undoing was the di Lasso statue on the promenade place that against Michael Jackson during his appearances in Munich the night in a suite at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof.

Every day fresh flowers and a heart of red lights mourning - Orlando di Lasso might actually enjoy the attention. Fans from all over Europe to travel. But the composer is not interested in the Pilgrims - between Jackson-images is just read to Di Lasso's name.

"Report to say" why opponents of the monument rededication. Popkitsch Jackson pictures and they will not see on the Promenade Square. Some therefore sabotage the monument, come to images, scatter pigeon feed.

An end to the dispute over the monument has been hijacked in sight. The game provides fans as Jackson Sandra Mazur di-Lasso only as an interim memorial. The followers of the pop star will have its own statue, a place where they can commemorate their idol forever.

Mazur, therefore, has the community of interest "Monument to Michael Jackson in Munich founded - along with associated website. We are grateful for the current memorial, but our desire is its own memorial, a statue that will stand for 100 years, "she says.

Bronze statue will be the new, life, Michael Jackson in one of his typical pose. On tiptoe, his hand on his hat. Or the Moonwalk. The King of Pop on the promenade place - it would be the first permanent statue of the pop star in Germany.

The fans have submitted to the Munich city council earlier this year an application. Sandra Mazur and her colleagues want to pay for the statue itself and give it to the city. 70,000 euros, estimates Mazur, would cost the statue. In her spare time she collects money, tries to persuade celebrities Jacko fans of the idea.

The Problem: What is situated on the promenade place, decide if the city council. And in the Michael Jackson fans are few and far between.

Left for the King of Pop, the State Construction Office. It maintains the occupied di-Lasso Statue and tolerates the Michael Jackson posters. But long term it will not accept the rededication of the monument. Kurt Bachmann of the Construction Office in Munich hopes may fade the hype surrounding Michael Jackson soon, because the merchandise will be from day to day.

"We do not know what to do," complains Bachmann. So far, the Jacko memorabilia has not damaged the monument. In the long term posters and flowers but could not get stuck on a strange statue. "It would be best if there was a private memorial for Michael Jackson."

But the relevant committee in the Munich city council defends itself against the bronze-Jackson. "In Munich there is a Denkmalitis," says the SPD council Reinhard Bauer. Each month the committee get several requests for memorials on the table. However, few applications available in tablets of stone or marble statues of precipitation.

"Definitively decided yet nothing is right," Bauer says Jackson on the planned memorial, and finally kick the Committee met only advisory. A decision can affect only the city council. Bauer considers to be completely excluded but the desire location of the fans: "On the Promenade should not place more monuments."

The fans take the bad sporting opportunities in the City Council to date. "We knew from the beginning that it will not be easy," says Sandra Mazur. They would now fight even more. Mazur collect signatures, already more than 1,000 signatories, it has to convince of their idea. "The petition we will personally from the Lord Mayor Ude," she predicts.

As long as the monument stands up, the fans will continue to march to the Promenade Square. They occupy just a statue of another musician in history for their purposes, as an altar for the King of Pop.

One has in common with Michael Jackson, Orlando di Lasso: As a boy he fell on its "light sweet voice" in the chorus. What Ferrante Gonzaga, the viceroy of Sicily, it brought to kidnap the young singer as many times until it stayed with him.

 

Source: SZ & JAM-FC / Thank you Eike